Potential effects of groundwater development in eastern Camden County, Georgia, on groundwater resources of Cumberland Island National Seashore

Abstract

Proposed withdrawal of groundwater from the surficial aquifer system confined zone, or the upper and lower Brunswick aquifers in eastern Camden County, Georgia, could result in drawdown extending beneath the Cumberland Sound and potentially could affect ground-water levels and natural resources at Cumberland Island National Seashore. Using a nonequilibrium formula, esti-mated drawdown after 5 years of pumping at a rate of 0.2 million gallons per day along the western edge of Cumberland Island’s wilderness area would be about 26 feet in the surficial aquifer confined zone, 39 feet in the upper Brunswick aquifer, and 3.7 feet in the lower Bruns-wick aquifer. Pumping from the lower Brunswick aquifer at a rate of 2 million gallons per day for 5 years would result in 37 feet of drawdown along the western edge of the wilderness area. Water-level declines in aquifers beneath wetland areas could reduce quantities of water discharging from confined units into the unconfined parts of the surfi-cial aquifer system, which are important for sustaining freshwater wetland ecosystems on Cumberland Island.